


Friendship on Fire

by Sutured_Wings



Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, Fire, Fluff, Higgy was bullied, Kinda, Prom, also in denial, they're in love, thomas is a softie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26201566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sutured_Wings/pseuds/Sutured_Wings
Summary: Magnum overhears one of Higgy's terrible high school memories and does everything he can to make up for it.
Relationships: Juliet Higgins/Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jaydiesbutterfly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaydiesbutterfly/gifts).



> Hey Guys!  
> Hope you enjoy this Fic, inspired by Jaydiesbutterfly, thank you sooo much for this idea and the support<3

“What do you mean you didn’t go to prom?!” Magnum sound utterly appalled and a little amused. 

“What part of that do you not comprehend Magnum? I didn’t wish to waste my Friday evening in uncomfortable clothing with people I didn’t like so I simply did not go. It’s very simple,” Higgins’ words made it seem like it was her choice not to go but Magnum could see something else in her eyes, she looked almost hurt at the memory. 

Magnum and Higgins were working on a case at the local high school, not the most exciting P.I. job but they were helping a lot of people. And it was definitely better than the sleazy cheating partners. 

The principal had called them in to investigate a fire that had broken out with some of the prom decorations in the storeroom. They wanted to keep the police out of it for now because involving them meant making it a criminal offense and the principal was sure it was one of the students and most likely an accident. 

After interviewing all the students and staff that could’ve been around and had access to the store room that night, it was pretty obvious to both of them that of the two people that were around that evening only one of them hadn’t been telling them the whole truth. 

They’d asked to speak to Calvin alone again to try and get the truth out of him. From what they knew, he was a good kid, if not a little bit tortured, definitely not burn the school down kinda material. But still he was definitely hiding something. Magnum let Higgins lead the conversation sensing she felt some kind of connection to this kid, he assumed the relation was that they were both probably the smartest kids in their school and kinda stuck out like a sore thumb because of it. 

“We know you and Malia were the only ones here last night, Calvin. And according to her, she left you alone in the storeroom to go the bathroom and when she came back you were gone and the fire had started so she pulled the fire alarm and ran, afraid she’d get in trouble for being here so late. We checked the school cameras and she was the one who pulled the alarm and everything else in her story checked out. Yours didn’t add up quite as easily. So would you like to tell us what actually happened last night?”

Cal seemed to be cracking at every word Higgins spoke so it came as no surprise when she finally stopped speaking that his confession came tumbling out. 

“I was trying to ask her out in the way that she deserved. I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he said, clearly emotional. 

“Hey it’s alright. It was an accident. I have to tell your principal who it was but I’ll explain and see if I can get him to go easy on you,” Magnum said patting Cal on the shoulder as he excused himself. 

Higgins stayed to chat with Calvin in the meantime. “Why didn’t you just tell us what happened?” Higgins asked genuinely curious. 

“I - I didn’t want anyone finding out. Especially not Malia, I never did manage to ask her. And she was so upset about the fire. If she knows it was me she’d hate me more than this entire school already does,” he rambled defeatedly. 

Higgins knew a little more than she’d like to about being hated in high school. Calvin looked so hurt she was compelled to tell him a story she had never told anyone before. 

“When I was in high school I wasn’t exactly miss popular either. Actually that’s a complete understatement. But when prom came around the most popular guy in school, his name was Charles, asked me to be his date. Little did I know he was a grade-A arsehole, well I suppose I should have known, with a name like Charles,” Higgins joked subtly trying to ease her own tension. “Turns out him asking me to prom was a class joke. He stood me up that night, and I was the joke of the school until graduation day,” Higgins ended looking a little more broken than she’d hoped. Completely oblivious to the fact that Magnum had returned and had heard the ending of the story she never planned on anyone ever hearing. “Anyway my point is, Malia would be incredibly lucky to go to prom with a guy as thoughtful and kind as you. So you should still ask her,” she finished with a genuine smile. 

Cal smiled back her sadly, “I’ll think about Ms Higgins.” 

“Please Cal you can call me Juliet now,” she patted his knee as she stood up seeing Magnum approaching from the stairs below. Cal looked at him expectantly. 

“You’re not in any serious trouble. Principal Palakiko said he understands, but he has to give you some kind of punishment so...” Magnum paused, clearly not wanting to finish his sentence, “I’m so sorry Cal, but you’ve been banned from prom,” he finally let out, sympathy dripping from every word.

Cal however seemed slightly relieved, “That’s okay Mr Magnum, I’m not sure I was going to go anyway. Thank you for everything.”

They shook hands before Higgins and Magnum started walking away. 

“Hey Higgy, I’ll catch up with you in a sec,” Magnum called out tossing the car keys to her when she turned to face him. Once she was far enough away he turned to Cal and said, “I know it won’t be the same at all but we’re having a makeshift prom of our own on Friday night that you’re definitely not banned from.” 

Cal smiled at him slightly confused, “Thank you, I might actually enjoy that more than I would’ve my own. But if you don’t mind me asking, why in the world are you throwing a prom, Mr Magnum?”

Magnum chuckled and answered, “You can call me Thomas you know, or just Magnum. Mr Magnum makes me feel old. And it’s for Higgins, I know she didn’t get to go to hers and I think she deserves the perfect prom night she should’ve got at 18.” 

Magnum didn’t really notice the way he stared off into the space Higgins had disappeared into moments earlier with a fond smile on his face, but Cal definitely did. 

“You really care about her don’t you?” 

Magnums attention was brought back to the boy standing next to him, “She’s my partner, of course I do. Anyway, I should get going before she yells at me for making her wait. I hope we’ll see you on Friday.” 

“I’ll be there,” he heard as he was walking away. And if he’d been two steps closer he would’ve heard a mumbled, ‘partners don’t look at each other like that’. 

“Hey Higgy, you free on Friday night?” Magnum asked as he wandered into the study snacking on a doughnut. 

“Magnum could you kindly swallow first, speak later. I have no desire to see a half-eaten doughnut,” Higgins replied, disgust written all over her face. 

“Sorry,” he said wiping away the last remnants of his snack from his face, “so?”

She looked at him quizzically. 

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” he asked again. 

“Magnum are you trying to ask me out on a date with sugar on your trousers like a five year old?” she replied trying to hide her amusement. She refused to admit the feeling stirred within her was anything other than amusement, it was definitely not excitement over a potential date with Thomas Magnum. 

“No, not a date. The school called to invite us to their prom to say thanks or something,” Magnum appeared a little flustered. It wasn’t his lie that had made him uncomfortable though, Higgy’s question had made him realize he basically was asking on her date, but not a real date. It was just a nice thing he was doing for a friend. He’d do the same for Rick or T.C.

At least that’s what he’d convinced himself. 

“Oh,” she replied ignoring the pang of disappointment she felt, “well I suppose we could stop by for a short while. Do I have to dress up?”

Magnum grinned brightly at her, “Yes of course you have to dress up Higgy, it’s prom.” 

She rolled her eyes at his excitement and politely excused herself to get back to her work, letting Magnum get back to finalizing his prom preparations. 


	2. Chapter 2

It was 6 P.M. on Friday evening, everything set up at La Marianna for what Magnum hoped with be a perfect night for Higgins. Magnum checked his watch before walking to the main house to pick Higgins up, he could’ve just met her at the car but for reasons he was choosing to ignore, he wanted to do this right. And doing this right included buying her a corsage and picking her up at her door. He wandered into the house just as Higgins was walking down the stairs. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her, the only thing he could think was that she looked absolutely stunning. He knew he was staring and if he didn’t compose himself before she fully descended the stairs he would never hear the end of it, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from her. From the neat fold of satin that snaked across her soft shoulders to the way the contrasting shades of pink perfectly caressed her waist until the fabric loosened and cascaded ever so elegantly from her waist to just below her knees, she truly was a vision of sophistication.   
When she reached the bottom of the stairs she smoothed her hands over the front of the dress and smiled at him.   
“Hi,” he breathed out, still blatantly staring at her.   
“Why are you looking at me that?” she asked suddenly self-conscious, searching for something wrong with her appearance, “Is this too much? I can go change.”  
“No!” he said a little too quickly and strongly for his own liking, clearly startling her with his tone, he continued more gently, “No, you look you beautiful.”   
She smiled and if he didn’t know better he would’ve said she looked almost nervous before asking, “What’s in the box?”   
“Oh, right,” he’d almost forgotten he was holding the box with her corsage, suddenly realizing how perfectly the colour of the flower he’d picked matched the floral of her dress. He opened the box showing her the contents, “it’s a prom tradition.” He suddenly felt unsure of his decision to buy her a corsage, maybe that was a little much, so he quickly backtracked slightly, “I mean you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. We can just leave it here if you don’t like it or think it’s stupid...”   
He was rambling and he knew it but the words just kept tumbling nervously out of his mouth, until she stopped him, “It’s beautiful, Magnum. Thank you. But, uhm, are you going to make me put that on myself?”  
She was smiling at him and by God if he wasn’t nervous before he definitely was now. He could’ve sworn he was less nervous at 17 going to his actual prom. But he was really doing his best to ignore that nagging feeling.   
He secured the flowers around her wrist and offered her his arm to walk to the car, depositing the now empty box on the side table on their way out. 

“I thought you said we were going to prom?” Higgins asked slightly confused.   
“We are,” Magnum replied.   
“Magnum, you’re going the wrong way. The venue is on the other side of the island,” she stated as if he was the dumbest human on earth.   
“I never said whose prom we were going to,” he replied calmly trying to hold back a smirk as they pulled into the parking lot of La Mariana. Magnum looked over to her when the car stopped and smiled at how star struck she looked. She was so absorbed in watching the twinkling fairy lights leadings to the entrance that she didn’t notice Magnum get out the car and walk around to open her door for her. It was only when a cool breeze caught the loose tendrils of hair framing her face that she looked up at him. He held out his hand to help her out of the car which she gladly accepted. She stood between him and the car as he shut the door behind her. Seeing that she wasn’t about to follow him inside he paused and answered her unasked question, “Everyone deserves to have their perfect prom night. Even badass ex-Mi6 agents.”   
“Thank you, Thomas,” she whispered as she hooked her arm into his, hugging his bicep. They walked together into the bar that, tonight, looked nothing like a bar. Right at the entrance there was a photo station, unable to find and afford an actual photographer Magnum settled on a photo booth and was now insisting they take a picture together before they go inside. He smiled tucking the strip of photos into his suit pocket as they walked in. Everyone was here already. Naturally Rick and T.C. were there but he’d also made sure to invite their other friends too; Katsumoto, Kumu and the 5-0 team. He’d even made sure Jin and Noelani were there.   
Cal had walked in, introductions made, just a little while before T.C. walked up to the mic set up on the stage where the band had been playing.   
“Ladies and gentleman, now would be that favourite part of the evening,” T.C. announced in his best over dramatic TV gameshow host voice, “Time to crown our King and Queen.”   
Magnum smiled at the confused but surprised expression Higgins wore.   
“Now we didn’t really take a vote, but I’m pretty sure this decision is unanimous. Our Prom King is, Mr Calvin Lewis.”   
Cal turned to look at Magnum, who grinned at him and nodded, as the crowd applauded. Cal walked on stage on T.C. placed the plastic crown on his head before he spoke again, “and our Queen is none other than... drumroll please... our very own Juliet Higgins.”  
Higgins turned to looked at Magnum standing next to her, slightly horrified, and he couldn’t help but notice the slight pink tinge in her cheeks making her look even more beautiful, if that was even possible. He smiled at her and said, “Go on, go get your crown. ‘Queen Higgins’ does have a nice ring to it.”   
She smiled gently at him and walked up to T.C. nervously, accepting the crown he placed on her head.   
Just as the King and Queen’s dance began Magnum noticed Malia walk in and walked up to her to greet her.   
“Hey Malia, wasn’t expecting to see you here,” he smiled at her. She looked a bit uncomfortable and he wanted to make her feel welcome.   
“Hi Mr Magnum,” she smiled when she recognized him, “I wasn’t exactly expecting to be anywhere but my own prom tonight but I heard what happened with Cal and someone said he might be here, so I came to find him. What exactly is going on here?”   
Rick and T.C. had walked up to them at this point, standing next to Magnum.   
“He’s on the dance floor, but I’m sure he’d much rather be dancing with you,” Magnum smiled at her somewhat ignoring her actual question which Rick and T.C. definitely noticed.   
Rick was the one who chose to reply on his behalf, “And what’s going on here is that Tommy-boy here,” he started slapping Magnum on the back with his words, “threw this shindig coz our friend, Juliet, didn’t go to her high school prom and he wanted her to have the whole prom experience.”   
Magnum shifted uncomfortably, hearing it from someone else’s mouth made it sound a little harder to ignore the underlying feelings.   
“Wow, you must really love her if you put in this much effort to do all this for her,” Malia spoke to him in awe.   
He didn’t know how to respond, shocked at the word, maybe she was right, maybe he was in love with Higgins. But he couldn’t be, she’d kick his ass if she found out he thought about her that way.   
“Oh, they both do, neither of them are willing to admit that though,” T.C. replied.   
Magnum barely registered the comment, he was watching Higgins. The song had ended and she’d excused herself from Cal, pointing out that Malia was here to him before she walked towards the exit. She dropped the crown on a table and picked up a beer along the way before slipping out the door onto the terrace.   
Magnum walked away from his friends without a word but one look at him and the direction of his gaze was enough for them to know where he was heading. 

“Hey, you okay?” Magnum asked as he saw Higgins nursing her drink alone on the terrace.   
She turned to him with a small, sad smile and said, “Yea I’m fine, just needed some air.”   
Encouraged by her smile he walked towards her but stopped a safe distance away from her. They were both quiet, looking out onto the marina.   
“Magnum, why’d you do all this?” she asked quietly as if she was afraid of the answer.   
He smiled trying to reassure her and himself, “I told you, everyone deserves to go to prom.”   
“Magnum.” she pleaded with him, clearly knowing that wasn’t the whole truth.   
He sighed and decided there was no way he was getting away from this anymore, “I overheard what you said to Cal, about what happened with your actual prom. And I guess I just couldn’t stand the idea of some jackass ruining what should’ve been a good memory for you. I couldn’t go back and change that but doing all this was kinda a way of replacing the bad memory with hopefully a better one.” She didn’t say a word and he was suddenly terrified that he had overstepped, blurring the lines between friends and something more, and that she didn’t want that. “Look, I’m sorry if I overstepped, we can just forget about it.” Still no response from her. She just continued to stare out at the lights, lost in her head. He let out a soft sigh and turned to walk away whispering, “I’m sorry, Higgy.”   
He’d barely taken a full step away from her when the feeling of cold in the space he’d just warmed beside her kicked her into action. This man had just thrown her an entire prom to make up for a bad memory she had because high school boys were cruel, she couldn’t just let him walk away thinking he’d done the wrong thing, that she didn’t appreciate this. That she didn’t appreciate him. She grabbed the lapel of his coat and pulled him towards her, trying her best to convey what she couldn’t find the words to say with a kiss. She’d always been terrible at talking about her feelings. Hopefully he’d get the message. She felt his hands rest on her waist, pulling her closer to him before one of his hands gently cupped her cheek. They separated slightly, foreheads still resting together, breathing each other in and recovering from the shock of the situation. He was the first to gain composure, she still couldn’t believe she’d actually kissed him. He pulled away a little further, smiling at her, and placed a reassuring kiss on her forehead. She smiled back at him shyly, still feeling an excessive amount of heat at her cheeks despite the cool breeze. He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her back towards the door to the party. She looked at him unsure and questioning but following him anyway, to which he replied, as if stating the obvious, “I’d like at least one dance with the most beautiful girl at prom.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you guys think.  
> I'll be posting the second part next week :)


End file.
